Ringing In The Stimulus New Year, Washington DC-Style

Happy American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Day! While Democrats fanned out across the country to make the case that the stimulus is actually stimulating something -- namely, jobs -- local yokels celebrated the one-year mark at home. Except for GOP strategist Ron Bonjean, who was smart enough to light out for less snow-bound climes.

Nora McAlvanah quizzed a bunch of District politicos (are we still allowed to use that word without legal repercussions?) about their plans for the festivities. We thank them for gracing us with their wit:

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Washington Post's Dana Milbank: "This morning I sent flowers to Larry Summers. Tonight I'm going to save or create jobs in the liquor industry."

West Wing Writer Jeff Nussbaum: "First, I'm celebrating by reading Joe Biden's great op-ed in the USA Today the effectiveness of the Recovery Act. And in the joy that follows from that report, I intend to save or create .17 American jobs through my celebration, in which I will eschew French champagne and instead pop the cork on some domestic sparkling wine."

Salon's Mike Madden: "Obviously, the only proper way to celebrate would be to borrow a ton of money to buy stimulus drinks somewhere (which Republicans would be welcome to enjoy as well as Democrats, as long as they also find time to complain about the cost). But since the journalism economy is recovering even slower than the economy for real people, it may be tough to find a bank willing to front that kind of cash to a writer. So instead, I'll just pretend I'm riding a fancy new high-speed rail line while I'm stuck in a tunnel on Metro on the way home later tonight."

GOP strategist Ron Bonjean: "Coincidentally by dining in a great sushi place tonight at this wonderful sunny resort here in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I don't think the country received any stimulus money, but it sure did know how to throw a Mardi Gras celebration last night. Also, there is no snow. Have a feeling the Democratic majority might send a delegation to look into this now. "

NPR political editor Ken Rudin: "It's hard to celebrate anything these days, considering all the people unemployed since the stimulus package was enacted. Martha Coakley, for one."

Comedian/Onion web editor Baratunde Thurston: "I'll take the extended unemployment benefits and use the funds to create a combination commercial/investment/insurance/hedge fund bank. I'll use the deposits from this Frankenstein institution to buy the regulators and place ridiculous bets on a ponzi scheme called "economic growth," and just as I am about to go under, I will collect a few billion dollars from the taxpayers and give myself a bonus."

Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "Like I celebrate all anniversaries: by working."

Longtime GOP'er and "man about town" Stephen Aaron: "Going to the shooting range, I get a lot more bang for my buck firing my money out the end of a rifle barrel than I did out of the stimulus."

New America Foundation's Steve Clemons: "I am going to go stop by the National Academy of Sciences and talk to folks there about the amazing, high wage job-generating, national innovative technology efforts we might have had if we had invested in next gen science....Then, I'm going to blog at Huffington Post about the many number of great alternatives that HuffPost and Washington Note readers suggested to take the spots of Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. And then I'm going to an ATM and ponder whether I should make a withdrawal and help the economy or a savings deposit and help the economy."

Real Clear Politics' Mike Memoli: "Since it's also Ash Wednesday I'm abstaining from meat and alcohol, and saying one rosary for every GOP "'Where are the jobs?' press release."

RNC communications director Doug Heye: "Since more people believe Elvis is still alive than believe the stimulus bill has created jobs, I'll play some of The King's classics on my ipod. 'If I Can Dream' seems appropriate."

Comments

[armchairfirebrand]

04:39 PM on 02/20/2010

A few weeks ago, in a statement typical of his party’s propensity for propaganda, newly-minted Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) forcefully asserted that the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package, “hasn’t created one new job.”

The problem with Brown’s declaration is that it’s objectively false. On Wednesday, the New York Times published a piece on the bill’s far-reaching impact. The results expose just how deceitful and irresponsible the senator’s remarks were.

One year on, the Recovery Act is well on its way to accomplishing all of its stated objectives. Next time the Junior Senator from Massachusetts speaks out of turn, I suggest he do his homework beforehand.

Read more @ http://armchairfirebrand.wordpress.com/

[DHubbard]

12:06 AM on 02/19/2010

President Obama, Bernanke, and Jim Cramer are in a MOVIE about hedge funds called "Stock Shock." Even though the movie mostly focuses on Sirius XM stock being naked-short-sold to near bankruptcy (5 cents/share), I liked it because it exposes the dark side of Wall Street and reveals some of their secrets. DVD is everywhere but cheaper at www.stockshockmovie.com

[yourmomscalling]

11:51 AM on 02/18/2010

WELL EXCEPT FOR THE WEALTHY !!!

[yourmomscalling]

11:51 AM on 02/18/2010

Stats show it didn't do anything !!!!

[ahmedccbc]

09:47 AM on 02/18/2010

Like thought the stimulus will hurt the economy.

Like pocketwatch was saying how the money was spent on construction , and other things . less just sit back look at how the money helped. Stimulus helped the economy for little bit when people thought it was getting better , cause people got jobs people was spending . But after the stimulus money was done people are getting laid off again , new students that graduated are not getting those jobs they went to school for . On top that people didnt look at how the stimulus messed up real bad
'' inflation'' does anyone know that dollar value dropped , have fun buying those imports cause they will go up . My point is you cant throw money on broken car to make it look good , you have to fix that car . what our goverment should have done is cut down major spending for example wars, and etc. and just ride this depression out . Till economy comes up on its on .

[PocketWatch]

09:14 AM on 02/18/2010

Stimulus spending:

Remember that not all dollars go to "jobs." They go to PROJECTS.

Let's break that down, shall we?

Typical costs go like this (in construction work):

Labor is about 40% of costs
Materials is about 30% of costs
Overhead is about 20% of costs
Profit is a nominal 10%

So, for every $1M spent, about $400K goes to labor (that's jobs, in case you're not paying attention)

At a nominal average of $50K per construction worker, that's 8 jobs per every $1M spent.

About $74.4B has been spent on contracts, grants and loans of $275B planned (about 27%).

With these numbers, about 600K jobs should have been generated.

Instead, it looks like well more than 1M jobs have been saved or created through the stimulus plan.

I'd say we got a really good return on our investment.

I post this analysis for a reason. I keep hearing about how much each job "costs" under the stimulus, and I want to remind people to be honest about how project expenditures work.

[salty07]

08:47 AM on 02/18/2010

Elvis is dead? When did that happen. Why didn't anyone tell me?

[Patriotallday]

08:32 AM on 02/18/2010

Obama promised 87,000 jobs would be created thru the "green" stimulis money allocated for insulating and weatherizing homes. A year later no jobs were created, the program is a complete disaster, falling short by 98.5% of what was projected,,,,and the kicker....... the cost per each home averages a whopping $57,000...!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/02/obama-stimulus-weatherization.html

[repuke]

08:30 AM on 02/18/2010

You people need to stop watching Fox News and get out in the real world. A private company with the name Alway's Bagel's was funded with $2 million dollars of taxpayer stimulus money and ready to soon offer close to 100 jobs..

You can use google look it up.
recovery.gov

[Salty 2]

08:15 AM on 02/18/2010

And don't forget the $58 billion they lost and are not even trying to find.

[Terypat]

06:28 AM on 02/18/2010

All of the above in Jason's article have been employed throughout this ordeal, so it's so easy to trash the stimulus when it does not directly affect their lives.

Because of the stimulus, l still have an unemployment check coming in because the city I live in has 17% unemployment.

I suggest the Beltway pundits seek out people like me and find out how their lives would have been in 2009 without the Stimulus.

The selfishness and the 'I'm better than you attitude' of the "Village People" is quite sickening and why Jason would think I would want to know what Dana Milbank was doing to celebrate the stimulus is beyond me. Slow news day?

Jason, I hope this 'Village Idiots Dialogue' stuff is not rubbing off on you too, because this is news(?!?) I definitely did not have to know!!!!

[Mike949]

06:36 AM on 02/18/2010

I am a conservative and fully support aspects of the stimulus such as the extension of unemployment benefits and Cobra. My issue has to do with the myriad of public sector jobs that are being created. The path to recovery is through private sector jobs.

As I have said before, sending money to states that are in financial trouble due to their refusal to balance their budgets is simply sending good money after bad.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

07:31 AM on 02/18/2010

What's the private sector waiting for?

As a conservative don't you also believe that the private sector doesn't need the government and is actually the source of all good in the world? And while you're at it, why can't the private sector out-compete the ol' government? And why is it that all the government hacks are all former successful private sector wizbangs?

Go ahead, lay your conservative manifesto on us!

[yourmomscalling]

04:31 AM on 02/18/2010

AS USUAL MORE BS ABOUT HOW MANY JOBS THIS CREATED !!!

[yourmomscalling]

04:28 AM on 02/18/2010

I fail to see the numbers of jobs the (STIMULUS) created all it did was make fat cats FATTER !!!!!!

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

07:36 AM on 02/18/2010

That's what an overly capitalistic society produces without socialist regulations in place.

[edyang]

04:06 AM on 02/18/2010

We were told the money was urgently needed. But why has only 30% been spent then? Everyone knows of the unemployment rate promise. Then there's the funds that went to false districts and stupid pet project. This entire pork barrel bill was just a gigantic waste of money, and the American people know it without a doubt.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

08:00 AM on 02/18/2010

Your first question - are you seriously complaining about that!?

Everything is a stupid pet project if it doesn't involve you or your state? Self-centered much?

And the false false district claims - please the money went to the states that it was supposed to go to and was simply filed by the Obama Administration's own RECOVERY.GOV as they received the password-protected encoded information from the states. Never checked that out for yourself huh? Figures.

[edyang]

01:33 PM on 02/18/2010

You don't get it.

If the money was sooooo urgently needed to stop the immediate crisis, for "shovel-ready projects", then why is the money being spent over a longer period of time to coincide with the (surprise surprise) elections?

Regardless if it were for my state or not, researching fish in a pond in Pelosi's district doesn't strike me as very stimulative.

I guess you're one of the last who believe the stimulus was anything other than a massive waste of money. Keep your head in the sand.

By the way, only 6% of Americans believe the stimulus created jobs: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/02/obama-defends-787billion-stimulus-plan.html

[Salty 2]

01:38 PM on 02/18/2010

Alot of the $$$ went to payback campaine favors bought by the Dems. Alot went to pet projects that Dems couldn't get funded under Bush. It was funny waching all those Dems falling all over themselves trying to spend as much as they could as fast as they could. Using those Rep. tactics of fear,( if we don't do it right now all is lost). They did it so fast so the people wouldn't know what they did untill it was to late. And the sheep still follow, and believe, and make excuses.

[xlntcat]

03:14 AM on 02/18/2010

Once again, Dems miss the opportunity to capture and control the message. The Dems in Congress should have blanketed the airwaves today armed with data about how the stimulus, a bill written and passed by a democratic congress, had helped their own state and exhibiting how Mr Cantor et al were misrepresenting how the stimulus had been used in their own states and how many jobs their governors were reporting back as created. Instead the chose to once again allow the GOP frame the message with the help of the media. Obama is running for re-election this fall. Congress is. Man up and own your work. It is one of the few things you managed to get through the Senate last year. Allowing the GOP to trash it will not help you keep you job.